Iza Tarasewicz

The expansive installations by Polish artist Iza Tarasewicz take shape as modular structures—mobile and reconfigurable systems based on formal principles inspired by nature, scientific research, and visual aids like graphs and diagrams. Many of her works consist of diverse units that can be continuously rearranged and reconfigured depending on the exhibition context. The artist refers to atomistic philosophy from classical antiquity as well as explanatory models from the 20th century—quantum physics and chaos theory—in conjunction with in-depth investigations into labor, folk traditions, and modernism. Her sculptures and assemblages, in which she processes materials from rusted steel to Lingzhi mushrooms, form dynamic systems where the boundary between organic and inorganic blurs. Tarasewicz’s art is deeply rooted in the social and (agri)cultural practices that have left lasting traces both in the Podlachia region, where she was born, and in the rites and folk traditions that shape the culture of large parts of Central and Eastern Europe.

Central to Tarasewicz’s work is the idea that our lives, contrary to the deceptive notion that we can detach ourselves from our environment, are inextricably intertwined with those of other, accompanying species. In the face of growing social inequalities and hyper-individualism in capitalist societies, as well as the populist and fascist political movements they nourish, her practice is guided by the question of how we can form bonds and forge kinship. In her eclectic exhibition at the Secession, Tarasewicz links sci-fi concepts with agriculture by combining spacecraft and retro-machines that have become useless in today’s economy and are considered technological scrap. By allowing these machines to build their own chaotic community, she creates playful and humorous model examples of an alternative reality, thus confronting an ever-accelerating world in which economic and political orders around the globe are in a serious crisis. Her installation not only reflects chaos as a destructive force but also explores its productive potential, an openness that can lead to new insights and revive forms of communal life.